Glitches plague new jobless-claims system

The folks running Florida's unemployment program have an image problem.

It's not just that the Department of Economic Opportunity's new, $63 million claims system seems to have been cobbled together by the same tipsy elves who built the national health-care website.

The bigger issue is that many people don't believe what DEO is saying. Even some of its own employees.

"The problems with this rollout are far more complicated than just having a system full of glitches," a DEO staffer told me. "We could and should be doing a much better job of helping Florida's citizens." She did not want her name used for fear of losing her job.

The employee contacted me after DEO management insisted that the new claims system, which processes all requests for unemployment benefits,was performing well. They conceded there were hiccups when it launched two weeks ago, but DEO chief Jesse Panuccio dismissed those as "minor technical issues."

"Big picture," said Panuccio, "we feel really good about the rollout so far."

That infuriated claimants who had spent hours trying to file for benefits only to be kicked off the system. And it frustrated the DEO employee, who has seen the bugs firsthand — everything from the system inflating a claimant's earnings by a factor of five to inexplicably attaching Alaska addresses to hundreds of Florida businesses. (DEO says the Alaska problem has since been corrected.)

"For every defect fixed," the DEO staffer told me last week, "two more are discovered."

DEO's hotline, meanwhile, has been little help because it's constantly busy. In emails and Facebook posts, claimants joke grimly about how often they've tried to call. The standard unit of measure appears to be "dozens," though one reader claimed he tried 212 times without getting an answer.

Even if he had reached someone, it's not clear that DEO reps could have offered much hope.

The agency employee said many don't have access to parts of the system needed to unstick a claim. That's one of the reasons she contacted me. She worries that DEO staffers are being hung out to dry.

"Supervisors are begging for help, agents are begging for help," she said. "We are left to fend for ourselves and try to resolve these complicated issues on our own."

At this point, there's no way to say how many of Florida's 235,000 unemployment applicants have been unable to file their claims. DEO says it has successfully processed more than 160,000, but it's not tracking customers who've been thwarted by system gremlins.

That said, the numbers must be pretty big. I've received more than 150 emails or phone calls, and DEO's Facebook page has been slammed. There's an online petition demanding corrective action with more than 100 signatures, and the National Employment Law Project, a pro-worker group, is now looking into the issue.

But the precise total of angry workers is almost irrelevant. The point is that there are more than enough to give DEO a public-relations headache, and so far, the agency has done little to make it go away.

First, its chief minimized the roll-out problems. Then, the press found a year-old memo showing that DEO had serious concerns about the system's design and its contractor. Now, an agency employee is saying the department isn't telling the whole story.

That's a bad mix because customers don't like to be spun.

"In general, it is always better to treat your constituents with respect," said Orlando public-relations consultant Sara Brady. "There isn't any need to provide the excruciating details about the problem, but acknowledging the obvious while also showing empathy make a world of difference in preserving good relations with your customers."

So far, DEO has mastered only half of that equation: It has done an admirable job expressing empathy for folks who have not been able to file. It has even asked me to pass along the names of people who are struggling.

But the agency seemed to have a harder time admitting problems that had become apparent to most everyone else. Last week, it took a step in that direction with a new statement from agency spokeswoman Monica Russell.

This time, there was no mention of anyone feeling "really good" about the launch.

Instead, Russell acknowledged that "the initial phase of the update has also caused delays for many users. DEO sincerely regrets any delays or frustration experienced by claimants, and we are working around-the-clock with program experts … to fix technical problems as they arise."

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